Research

Except for MIT, UT Austin attracts more federal research grants than any American university without a medical school.^[84] For the 2009–2010 school year, the university exceeded $640 million in research funding (up from $590 million the previous year)^[84] and has earned more than 300 patents since 2003.^[85] UT Austin houses the Office of Technology Commercialization, a technology transfer center which serves as the bridge between laboratory research and commercial development. In 2009, UT Austin created nine new start-up companies to commercialize technology developed at the university and has created 46 start-ups in the past seven years. UT Austin license agreements generated $10.9 million in revenue for the university in 2009.^[85]
Research at UT Austin is largely focused in the engineering and physical sciences,^[86] and the university is a world-leading research institution in fields such as computer science.^[87] Energy is a major research thrust, with federally funded projects on biofuels,^[88] battery and solar cell technology, and geological carbon dioxide storage,^[89] water purification membranes, among others. In 2009, UT Austin founded the Energy Institute, led by former Under Secretary for Science Raymond L. Orbach, to organize and advance multi-disciplinary energy research.^[90] While the university does have a medical school, it houses medical programs associated with other campuses and allied health professional programs, as well as major research programs in pharmacy, biomedical engineering, neuroscience, and others.
In 2010, UT Austin opened the $100 million Dell Pediatric Research Institute to increase medical research at the university and establish a medical research complex, and associated medical school, in Austin.^[91][92]
UT Austin operates several major auxiliary research centers. The world's third-largest telescope, the Hobby–Eberly Telescope, and three other large telescopes are part of UT Austin's McDonald Observatory, 450 miles (720 km) west of Austin.^[93][94] The university manages nearly 300 acres (1.2 km²) of biological field laboratories, including the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in Austin. The Center for Agile Technology focuses on software development challenges.^[95] The J.J. Pickle Research Campus (PRC) is home to the Texas Advanced Computing Center which operates the Ranger supercomputer, one of the world's most powerful supercomputers ^[96] as well as the Microelectronics Research Center which houses micro- and nanoelectronics research and features a 15,000 square foot (1,400 m²) cleanroom for device fabrication.
Founded in 1946, UT Austin's Applied Research Laboratories at the PRC has developed or tested the vast majority of the Navy's high-frequency sonar equipment. In 2007, the Navy granted it a research contract funded up to $928 million over ten years.^[97][98] The Institute for Advanced Technology, founded in 1990 and located in the West Pickle Research Building, supports the U.S. Army with basic and applied research in several fields.
The Center for Transportation Research UT Austin is a nationally recognized research institution focusing on transportation research, education, and public service. Established in 1963 as the Center for Highway Research, its projects address virtually all aspects of transportation, including economics, multimodal systems, traffic congestion relief, transportation policy, materials, structures, transit, environmental impacts, driver behavior, land use, geometric design, accessibility, and pavements.^[99]
In 2013, UT Austin announced the naming of the O'Donnell Building for Applied Computational Engineering and Sciences. The O'Donnell Foundation of Dallas, headed by Peter O'Donnell and his wife, Edith Jones O'Donnell, has given more than $135 million to UT Austin between 1983 and 2013. UT Austin President William C. Powers declared the O'Donnells "among the greatest supporters of the University of Texas in its 130-year history. Their transformative generosity is based on the belief in our power to change society for the better."^[100] In 2008, O'Donnell pledged $18 million to finance the hiring of UT Austin faculty members undertaking research in mathematics, computers, and multiple scientific disciplines; his pledge was matched by W. A. "Tex" Moncrief, Jr., a oilman and philanthropist from Fort Worth.^[101]

Endowment

The Norman Hackerman Building

Main article: Permanent University Fund

Thirty percent of the university's endowment comes from Permanent University Fund (PUF), with nearly $15 billion in assets as of 2007.^[102] the University of Texas System gets two-thirds of the Available University Fund, the annual distribution of PUF income. A regental policy^[103] requires at least 45 percent of this money go to the university for "program enrichment." By taking two-thirds and multiplying it by 45 percent, we get 30 percent which is the minimum amount of AUF income that can be distributed to the school under current policies. The Regents, however, can decide to allocate additional amounts to the university. Also, the majority of the University of Texas system share of the AUF is used for its debt service bonds, some of which were issued for the benefit of the Austin campus.^[104] The Regents can change the 45 percent minimum of the University of Texas System share to goes to the Austin campus at any time, although doing so might be difficult politically.
Proceeds from lands appropriated in 1839 and 1876, as well as oil monies, comprise the majority of PUF. At one time, the PUF was the chief source of income for Texas' two university systems, the University of Texas System and the Texas A&M University System; today, however, its revenues account for less than 10 percent of the universities' annual budgets. This has challenged the universities to increase sponsored research and private donations. Privately funded endowments contribute over $2 billion to the university's total endowment.